'It is an indication that they had forgotten to retract the landing gear. That causes heavy drag, and you cannot accelerate or gain height too fast with a hanging gear.'
The shocking and gruesome crash of the Air India Dreamliner flight to London from Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025 resulted in the death of more than 270 lives.
Every day, one expert or the other floats new theories behind the crash. So also the so- called 'WhatsApp University'.
This is what Captain A Mohan Ranganathan, a former airline instructor pilot and aviation safety advisor, has to say about the probable reasons behind the crash, and also what ails the Indian aviation sector in a four-part must-read interview.
"When I saw the CCTV footage released by the airport, I could see that the landing gear was still hanging down," Captain Ranganathan tells Rediff's Shobha Warrier.
So many theories on the Air India crash have been floating around.
As an expert on aviation safety, what were your initial thoughts when you saw the video of the flight not gaining ground and then crashing?
My initial thought was that the plane must have suffered a bird ingestion (a bird ingestion happens when a bird or birds are sucked into the aircraft's engine) and engine failure.
Ahmedabad is known to have lots of birds around the airport. I have also experienced it.
Due to garbage?
Yes, due to garbage strewn around. According to the rules, you have to keep an area of 13 km diameter clear of garbage and slaughter houses.
It could be birds as they fly at a very low altitude. They may not fly high.
Also, the grass surrounding the runway was high when they were supposed to cut it to less than 3 inches. From the video, it was apparent that it was more than 3 inches high.
When you have high grass, you have worms and insects in the midst, and birds come to eat them.
So, I thought the crash could be due to bid ingestion.
But birds were not visible in any of the images...
What we see are low resolution CCTV camera and phone images. So, from a distance, they may cut small birds off.
My impression was based on the statement of the survivor who heard a thud before the crash.
That thud could be due to either a bird or some object on the runway when the engine was picking up.
That's why my initial observation was that it could be a bird or some foreign object on the runway which caused the engine failure.
Did your thoughts change later on?
When I saw the CCTV footage released by the airport, I could see that the landing gear was still hanging down.
It is an indication that they had forgotten to retract the landing gear. That causes heavy drag, and you cannot accelerate or gain height too fast with a hanging gear.
An aircraft can climb safely and continue to the destination even if it loses one engine.
IMAGE: Captain Mohan RanganathanIs human error behind the extended landing gear?
Landing gear extended is human error.
When they heard the loud noise, they must have tried to identify it. In aviation, we call it a startle effect. While trying to analyse the noise, they might have forgotten the gear. At that time, there might have been a lot of tension in the cockpit.
NEXT: 'How Can You Condemn Dreamliner For One Accident?'
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
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